Chinese and Americans resume their discussions on Tuesday in Beijing to better fight against the production of components of fentanyl, a drug which is wreaking havoc in the United States and for which Washington blames Beijing.
According to Washington, this powerful synthetic opiate, often produced in Mexico with chemical compounds notably from China, causes some 100,000 overdose deaths each year on American soil.
Fentanyl is used in the medical field but its use can be misused as a drug.
Washington wants Beijing to crack down harder on companies that illegally export fentanyl chemical precursors and reduce funding for this trade.
American officials from justice, homeland security, diplomacy and the fight against narcotics are participating in Tuesday's meeting in Beijing, Washington said.
“
American laxity”
in the fight against drugs
For the United States, these discussions constitute
“a platform to facilitate ongoing coordination to combat the illicit production, financing and distribution of illicit drugs”
.
These exchanges, within a working group on the fight against narcotics, follow the meeting between Chinese Presidents Xi Jinping and American President Joe Biden in November in San Francisco.
The United States had criticized China for not doing enough to combat the illegal production and export of fentanyl components.
They had sanctioned several Chinese entities.
China, whose anti-drug legislation is among the strictest in the world, has in return criticized American laxity in the fight against narcotics and the lack of awareness among the general public of the dangerousness of synthetic opiates.
“For years, bilateral counternarcotics cooperation between the United States and the People's Republic of China has been suspended, preventing progress
,” a U.S. official said last week.
“But the situation changed during the November 15 meeting”
between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, this official told journalists, on condition of anonymity.
Since the summit, China has closed one business, blocked some international payments and resumed the exchange of information on deliveries and traffic, the American official added.
For its part, Beijing says it has intensified its campaigns against smuggling, illicit manufacturing and trafficking of substances linked to fentanyl.